Equivalence of a measurement model of cognitive abilities in U.S. standardization and Australian neuroscience samples

A psychological measurement model provides an explicit definition of (a) the theoretical and (b) the numerical relationships between observed scores and the latent variables that underlie the observed scores. Examination of the metric invariance of a measurement model involves testing the hypothesis that all components of the model relating observed scores to latent variables are equal across groups. The assumption of metric invariance is necessary for simple interpretation of scores. Establishing metric invariance also has implications for interpretation of convergent and divergent validity and patterns of deficit or disability. In this study the equivalence of the measurement model derived from the U.S. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III standardization sample was compared with a heterogeneous neurosciences sample in Australia. A pattern of strict metric invariance was observed across samples. These results provide evidence of the generality of the model underlying measurement of cognitive abilities.     

Acquisition and Retention of Esperanto: The Case for Error Correction and Immediate Feedback

The Psychological Record - Participants completed 5 laboratory examinations during which the number of responses permitted (1 response, up to 4 responses) and the timing of feedback (no feedback...     

What is a Truth Value And How Many Are There?

Truth values are, properly understood, merely proxies for the various relations that can hold between language and the world. Once truth values are understood in this way, consideration of the Liar paradox and the revenge problem shows that our language is indefinitely extensible, as is the class of truth values that statements of our language can take – in short, there is a proper class of such truth values. As a result, important and unexpected connections emerge between the semantic paradoxes and the set-theoretic paradoxes.     

Nature,Red in Tooth and Claw<Superscript>1</Superscript>

“Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw” explores Adorno’s ideas about our mediated relationship with nature. The first section of the paper examines the epistemological significance of his thesis about the preponderance of the object while describing the Kantian features in his notion of mediation. Adorno’s conception of nature will also be examined in the context of a review of J. M. Bernstein’s and Fredric Jameson’s attempts to characterize it. The second section of the paper deals with Adorno’s Freudian account of internal nature. While arguing against Joel Whitebook’s view that Adorno needs a concept of sublimation, I contend that Adorno’s genetic account of the relationship between nature and mind enables him to respond to the Freudian injunction to displace the id with the ego with a view to fostering autonomy. In the final section of the paper, problems with Adorno’s ideas about external and internal nature are briefly discussed. In Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2000) p. 195, John Bellamy Foster remarks on this line from Alfred Lord Tennyson ’s In Memoriam, claiming that it was widely known for “anticipating ”Darwinian’ ideas,’’ including much-maligned and heretical (at the time) materialist doctrines.     

Perceived teasing experiences in body dysmorphic disorder

Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) are excessively concerned about imagined or slight defects in their appearance (e.g., asymmetrical facial features). Cognitive-behavioral models of BDD propose that several factors, including dysfunctional appearance-related beliefs and life experiences, such as teasing, contribute to the avoidance behaviors or rituals (e.g., mirror checking, grooming) characteristic of BDD. Previous research has demonstrated an association between perceived teasing and body dissatisfaction. In the current study, we examined whether individuals with BDD (n = 16) report to have been teased more often than do mentally healthy controls (n = 17). The group comprising individuals with BDD reported more appearance- and competency-related teasing than did control participants. This study provides preliminary evidence for the association between perceived teasing and BDD.     

Genetic studies of stuttering in a founder population

Genome-wide linkage and association analyses were conducted to identify genetic determinants of stuttering in a founder population in which 48 individuals affected with stuttering are connected in a single 232-person genealogy. A novel approach was devised to account for all necessary relationships to enable multipoint linkage analysis. Regions with nominal evidence for linkage were found on chromosomes 3 (P=0.013, 208.8 centiMorgans (cM)), 13 (P=0.012, 52.6 cM), and 15 (P=0.02, 100 cM). Regions with nominal evidence for association with stuttering that overlapped with a linkage signal are located on chromosomes 3 (P=0.0047, 195 cM), 9 (P=0.0067, 46.5 cM), and 13 (P=0.0055, 52.6 cM). We also conducted the first meta-analysis for stuttering using results from linkage studies in the Hutterites and The Illinois International Genetics of Stuttering Project and identified regions with nominal evidence for linkage on chromosomes 2 (P=0.013, 180-195 cM) and 5 (P=0.0051, 105-120 cM; P=0.015, 120-135 cM). None of the linkage signals detected in the Hutterite sample alone, or in the meta-analysis, meet genome-wide criteria for significance, although some of the stronger signals overlap linkage mapping signals previously reported for other speech and language disorders. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: After reading this article, the reader will be able to: (1) summarize information about the background of common disorders and methodology of genetic studies; (2) evaluate the role of genetics in stuttering; (3) discuss the value of using founder populations in genetic studies; (4) articulate the importance of combining several studies in a meta-analysis; (5) discuss the overlap of genetic signals identified in stuttering with other speech and language disorders.     

The Developmental Perspective in Integral Counseling

The process of making meaning is a core determinant of human experience. Understanding this process, developmentally, is a vital part of integral counseling. In this article, the authors introduce the concept of ego development stages as increasingly complex and flexible systems of meaning making. An understanding of ego development stages can help counselors to assist clients in a way that recognizes that people not only come in different “types” but also differ significantly in the level of their meaning‐making capacity.     

The person-situation debate: A critical multiplist perspective

Critical multiplism is an approach to question and method choice predicated on the only partial validity of most current social science practices In the first part of this paper, the approach is described, and note is made of many of its advantages but also of two of its limitations Critical multiplism is then applied to the person-situation debate The analysis reveals that major protagonists in the debate have often discussed different versions of what appears to be the same question, and they usually agree when they define the questions similarly The major real difference concerns predictions about the extent of cross-situational consistency in behaviors This entails at least two subquestions (1) how consistent is the same molecular behavior across situations? and (2) how crosssituationally stable are different molecular behaviors presumed to indicate the same latent trait? Data from Peake (1982) reported in Mischel and Peake (1982) are then reanalyzed For molecular behaviors within the trait of conscientiousness, the central tendency of the cross-situational correlation is between 30 and 50, while for the nine different behaviors measured as most prototypical of the latent trait of conscientiousness it is in the 30 to 40 range While these values are higher than those of Mischel and Peake (1982), comparable analyses of their friendliness data failed to replicate the results for conscientiousness, cautioning us not to overgeneralize estimates of cross-situational consistency from any of the analyses currently available     

The Ouchi illusion: An anomaly in the perception of rigid motion for limited spatial frequencies and angles

The spatial parameters underlying a novel illusion of relative motion are characterized. A simple stimulus composed of two sine-wave gratings was sufficient to generate the illusion. We measured the response of subjects to rapid, small-amplitude oscillations of this stimulus behind a fixation point. The effect was clearly strongest for acute angles between the gratings, but only when spatial frequency was between 6 and 11 cpd. We surmise that activity in the grating cells of the primate visual cortex (von der Heydt, Peterhans, & Dursteler, 1992) might be the cause of the illusion. The illusion is potentially an important tool in understanding how higher cortical areas combine disparate motion signals.